Cyril Abidi

Cyril "Marseille Bad Boy" Abidi (born February 25, 1976) is a French former super heavyweight kickboxer. His road to fame started in 2000 when he entered K-1 and created a huge upset with a first-round knockout win over legendary Peter Aerts.^[1]

Biography and career

Abidi grew up in the north quartiers of Marseille (Consolat), in a modest Moroccan family. When he was 6, his mother took him to judo classes to keep him off the streets. He practiced judo for four years until he was inspired by Bruce Lee, his childhood idol, and started taking karate lessons.^[2]

When he was 18, he discovered Thaiboxing and became French champion at the age of 20.^[3] A year later he entered K-1, fighting against Petar Majstorovic in Zurich, Switzerland, and winning by a unanimous decision. Later that year, he won two back to back fights in the first round against Dutch fighter Peter Aerts. At their third meeting at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 Finals in the Tokyo Dome, Japan, Aerts beat Abidi in a three-round unanimous decision.^[4]

In his short foray into mixed martial arts, Abidi lost to Nigerian comedian Bobby Ologun in his first fight in MMA. Abidi was a last minute replacement for Mike Bernardo who was injured. The events surrounding the outcome raised suspicion of a fixed fight and Abidi seemed to lend credence to this in a post match interview.^[5]

I didn't have enough time to prepare for this fight, but I think I did do a good job for my first time. It was really good that my opponent is not so strong…..If he was a really strong fighter, I would have had had a hell of a time.

Why I am smiling a lot? Even though I lost this fight, I don't have any feelings that I really lost a realistic fight. Maybe this was as expected.

His fight against fellow Frenchman and rival Jérôme Le Banner at K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Paris, on May 27, 2005, is considered to be one of the greatest battles in K-1 history. Abidi lost by a technical knockout.

Titles

• 2003 K-1 World GP 3rd place
• 2003 K-1 World Grand Prix in Paris runner up
• 2000 K-1 World GP 3rd place
• 2000 K-1 World GP in Yokohama runner up
• 2000 Thai Boxing World champion
• 2000 French Heavyweight Amateur Boxing champion
• 1996 French Kickboxing champion

Kickboxing record

25 Wins (17 (T)KOs, 8 Decisions), 16 losses (10 (T)KOs, 6 Decisions)
Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Method	Round	Time
03/04/2007	Loss	Mitsugu Noda	K-1 World GP 2007 in Yokohama	Decision	3	3:00
05/03/2006	Loss	Hiraku Hori	K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Auckland, New Zealand	TKO (Corner Stoppage)	2	3:00
10/15/2005	Win	Stephane Reveillon	TK2 World MAX 4ever Edition, Paris	KO (Punch)	1	0:11
05/27/2005	Loss	Jérôme Le Banner	K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Paris, France	TKO (Referee stoppage)	5	2:53
12/04/2004	Loss	Gary Goodridge	K-1 World Grand Prix 2004, Japan	KO (Punch)	1	3:00
09/25/2004	Loss	Musashi	K-1 World Grand Prix 2004 Final Elimination, Japan	Decision (Unanimous)	3	3:00
04/02/2004	Win	Hocine Boutrek	TK2 Kickboxing, Marseilles, France	Decision	5	2:00
03/27/2004	Win	Hiraku Hori	K-1 World Grand Prix 2004 in Saitama, Japan	TKO (Referee stoppage)	3	2:58
12/16/2003	Loss	Remy Bonjasky	K-1 World Grand Prix 2003, Japan	KO (Flying knee strike)	1	1:46
12/16/2003	Win	Francois Botha	K-1 World Grand Prix 2003, Japan	Decision	3	3:00
10/11/2003	Win	Francois Botha	K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 Final Elimination, Japan	Disqualification	1
07/13/2003	Loss	Ernesto Hoost	K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 in Fukuoka, Japan	Decision (Unanimous)	2	3:00
06/14/2003	Loss	Alexey Ignashov	K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 in Paris, France	TKO (Corner stoppage)	3	0:20
06/14/2003	Win	Chalid Arrab	K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 in Paris, France	KO (Punch)	2	1:32
06/14/2003	Win	Aziz Khattou	K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 in Paris, France	Decision (Unanimous)	3	3:00
05/17/2003	Win	Daniel Lentie	TK2 Kickboxing, Marseilles, France	KO	3
04/06/2003	Win	Shingo Koyasu	K-1 Beast 2003, Japan	Decision (Unanimous)	5	3:00
12/31/2002	Loss	Quinton Jackson	Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2002, Japan	Decision	3	3:00
09/22/2002	Loss	Bob Sapp	K-1 Andy Spirits Japan GP 2002 Final, Japan	TKO (Referee Stoppage)	1	1:17
07/14/2002	Loss	Quinton Jackson	K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 in Fukuoka, Japan	KO (Punch)	1	1:55
05/22/2002	Win	Nick Murray	K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 in Paris, France	KO	1	2:05
10/08/2001	Win	Tatsufumi Tomihira	K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 in Fukuoka, Japan	TKO (Referee stoppage)	4	2:30
07/20/2001	Loss	Andrew Thomson	K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 in Nagoya, Japan	TKO (Referee stoppage)	1	1:15
03/17/2001	Win	Great Kusatsu	K-1 Gladiators 2001, Japan	Decision (Split)	5	3:00
12/10/2000	Loss	Ray Sefo	K-1 World Grand Prix 2000, Japan	TKO (Referee stoppage)	1	1:45
12/10/2000	Loss	Peter Aerts	K-1 World Grand Prix 2000, Japan	Decision (Unanimous)	3	3:00
11/10/2000	Win	Andrei Zuravkov	La Nuit des Champions, Marseille, France
08/20/2000	Loss	Francisco Filho	K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 in Yokohama, Japan	TKO (Corner stoppage)	2	0:25
08/20/2000	Win	Ray Sefo	K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 in Yokohama, Japan	TKO (Corner stoppage)	2	3:00
08/20/2000	Win	Peter Aerts	K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 in Yokohama, Japan	TKO (Corner stoppage)	1	2:42
07/07/2000	Win	Peter Aerts	K-1 Spirits 2000, Japan	KO (Punch)	1	2:13
03/19/2000	Win	Nobu Hayashi	K-1 Burning 2000, Japan	TKO	2	1:52
11/20/1999	Win	Jean-Claude Leuyer	Kickboxing Gala, Marseilles, France	KO
07/18/1999	Loss	Stefan Leko	K-1 Dream '99 Semi Finals, Nagoya, Japan	Decision (Unanimous)	3	3:00
07/18/1999	Win	Kirkwood Walker	K-1 Dream '99 Quarter Finals, Nagoya, Japan	KO (Low kicks)	1	0:33
06/05/1999	Win	Petar Majstorovic	K-1 Fight Night '99, Zurich, Switzerland	Decision (Unanimous)	5	3:00
02/27/1999	Win	Nash Urladzic	La Nuit des Champions, Marseilles, France	Decision	5	3:00
00/11/1998	Win	Gardois de Tholomese	La Nuit des Champions, Marseilles, France	KO	4
00/09/1998	Win	Alexandre Chvarev	La Nuit des Champions, Marseilles, France	KO	1

Mixed martial arts record

See also

• List of male kickboxers
• List of K-1 events
• List of K-1 champions

References

External links

• Professional MMA record for Cyril Abidi from Sherdog
  
• Cyril Abidi's website
• Profile at K-1